Myst

SCORE: 85

A CD phenomenon spanning five games, 3 books, and an online community
similar to that of World of Warcraft (though not near as violent), Myst
has become widely popular. The creators of the game didn’t want to make
games, but rather to make worlds. And make worlds they did; twenty-one
beautiful worlds in fact. I’ll explain the Myst series a little bit
right here before I get into the review (since all five of the games
will be up eventually). You take upon the role as “the traveler” or “the
stranger” as the character has come to be known. He/She came across a
peculiar book in a library which transported them to this new world. He
eventually comes upon a man named Atrus (a man with the ability to write
worlds). And the entire series revolves around this man, and his very
problematic family. As you start the game, you are shown a video of a
man falling into a fissure as he narrates. A book falls in front of you
and you open it to reveal an image. You place your hand upon the image
and everything goes black. When you wake up, you find yourself standing
on a dock connected to a small piece of land. Welcome to the island of
Myst.

The graphics in this game
are absolutely beautiful. You can look at these images and you find
yourself in disbelief at how wonderfully detailed everything is. So
detailed, everything looks real. Now, lack of things actually seen
moving helped with the images but the things actually seen moving are
good enough. But here’s a cool part. There are actual people in the
game. Not 3D computer generated images but actual people acting within
the game. Now, with the people acting, however, they are just simple
QuickTime movies that don’t get up and walk around. Still, the game is
fantastic based on looks.

The sounds in this game
work perfectly. You open a book and turn a page in it, there’s page
flipping sounds. Press a button and it clicks. Most everything clickable
will make a sound. And then there’s the music. You spend a lot of time
in solitude on this game and the music can set a dark and lonely
atmosphere. And here’s a nice little tidbit. There’s an entire level
based on sound.

Gameplay in the game is
point-and-click. You click to turn in the direction you want to go and
click in the center to move forward. Click doors to open them, switches
to activate them, pages and books to pick up and read them, and the ever
popular flipping the light switch. The entire game is one giant puzzle
with all the pieces strewn about and multiple ways to put them together.
You start at a dock with no clue what to do until you start finding your
“pieces”. Getting stuck in the game is half the fun as you try to figure
out the mechanics of each world.

There isn’t really
anything in the game to unlock. However, in the rather rare edition of
the game, real MYST, there is a new “age” (a Myst world) added once you
complete the game. I, the reviewer, have not had the pleasure of
exploring this age yet so I can’t really say if it is worth it although
I am a Myst fanatic and am searching to find that version of the game.
On a side note, Myst games are known for their multiple endings. If you
save at a certain point, you can go back to that point (very near the
end of the game) and change your last few moves to view each one. Just
so you know, there are four total endings to the game.

As far as Family Friendly
goes, I would say no one under eight years of age should play this. One
of the brothers in the game is rather psychotic acting and his living
quarters in each age support that little detail. But also, the sheer
perplexities some parts of the game employ would even make a full-grown
adult flustered. But there’s one thing that may be a bit of a concern.
And hold one because I’m going into Myst explanation. You see, there are
these special books this ancient race of people had that, when they
wrote in them in their own language, would link them to other worlds as
described in the book. And thus here comes the question of, are they
creating worlds or are they linking to already existing worlds with the
same criteria? Well, that’s player discrepancy although it seems it’s a
little bit of both. But alas, I must say that while the game has no
Christian influence, it’s still a great game.

To sum it all up, Myst is
a wonderful game and as it has four sequels and an awesome storyline to
it, I doubt anyone would be disappointed. As far as current
availability, the game may be hard to find as it has been about for at
least ten years now and real MYST is even harder to find. Gametap may be
your best bet at playing it. I recommend this game to anyone who doesn’t
have a short attention span and a short temper. - vernanonix

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